CAINSCROSS came out on top against local rivals Minchinhampton on Saturday.

Minch started brightly, working their way into the Cainscross 22 and setting up some promising attacks.

The whole Cainscross team tackled superbly and eventually turned the ball over and moved the ball down the pitch into the Minch 22.

Several scrums later veteran number 8 Martin Elliot broke from the base of a scrum and passed to scrum-half Gareth Ponsford, who was stopped a couple of yards from the line.

Lock Sam Mills was on hand to collect the pop-pass and crash over for the first try of the day. Conversion missed.

The greasy conditions meant that there were lots of handling errors from both teams and it became very hard for either team to link more than a couple of phases together. In the second half Cainscross did manage to launch an attack, and from an initial burst through the centre by Chris Grey, Substitute Jamie Marsh barrelled his way over to score with his first touch of the ball. Conversion missed.

Moments later, the Cainscross backs forced a mistake from Minch, and Fred Rehschuh was the first to react, just out running the defence to score his first try for the club. Ponsford continued in 100% record by missing the conversion. The last 20 minutes consisted of many scrums, and Hester and Muskett broke through and Humberstone sprinted in for a consolation try for Minch.

STAR MEN: Chris Grey and Allen Pearse.

Cainscross welcome Broad Plain to Victory Park on Saturday. Training Tuesdays, 7pm Victory Park.